To all of you that have a Ferret or thinking of buying one, Please read. Five years ago when my wife and I were walking in the Sanford Flea Market we spotted an adorable little Ferret that we held and played with. We were told he was around a year old. I told my wife that we should give him a good home since we both fell in love with him. We adopted him and named him Snoopers. We had many good times with our loving little friend. He chased us around the house, got into trouble and raised all kinds of hell with our dogs. When he was two years old we got another ferret for him that we named Gizmo so Snoopers could have a "roommate," and the two of them got along just fine. Gizmo tended to play rough with Snoopers since he was younger, so we had to keep an eye on them because we thought that they would kill each other. After some time Snoopers started to calm down and Gizmo raised hell. In the last few months we started to see more of a change in Snoopers. He would still kiss you and be loving but he started moving around slower and acted listless at times. Just after New Year's he started losing hair on his back. Usually every winter he would lose the hair on his tail, but this time he was losing hair on his back also. He also was having trouble getting around. Last week I came home to find him stuck under the ladder in his cage and he had lost total control of himself. I took him out and cleaned him and held him for some time and it looked like he was back to acting like himself. Thursday my wife told me he was having a hard time using the litter box and seemed to be in pain. That night I took him out and held him on my lap and he was very weak. We decided to call the vet and was told to bring him in Saturday. On Friday I took him out and held him again and this time he hardly moved. I put him back in his cage and all he would do was just sleep and not move from the place I had put him. I told my wife I didn't think he was going to be with us much longer. When the vet saw him Saturday morning (today) he said that Snoopers had a tumor in his adrainal(sp?) gland that was cancerous and was in heart failure. He also said he was definitely in pain. At that point we both agreed it was time to put Snoopers to sleep. To all of you that have never had to put a loving pet to sleep, it is very hard and this was the first time I had to do this. I held his little head in my hand and petted him when the doctor gave him his shot. With tears in my eyes I told Snoopers it was time to go to sleep and while holding him, Snoopers drifted off to sleep. I made him a little casket and buried him, with my wife and the rest of our pets looking on. He now rests in my garden with a little head stone "SNOOPERS 2/24/96." The reason I'm writing this is to be able to express my grief and to tell you about a very loving Ferret named Snoopers. Thanks, Tom Balevre If anyone would like to help me thru this time, please E-mail me at [log in to unmask] Rest in peace Snoopers. you are now in God's hands. We will never forget you.. Love, Daddy (Tom), Mommie (Audrey), Gizmo, Windy, Shakers, and Sassy [Posted in FML issue 1489]